Gippy Grewal, Sargun Mehta praise Sandeep Reddy Vanga: ‘He kept the valour of Punjabis intact in Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal’

Punjabi stars Gippy Grewal and Sargun Mehta have talked about the representation of Punjabis in Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal.

In a new interview with DNA, Gippy said that he thought the film showed the change in terms of representation of Punjabis, whereas Sargun felt that the director used the song Arjan Vally extremely well.

What Gippy Grewal said
Speaking about the film, where Ranbir Kapoor played the angry and vengeful role of Ranvijay ‘Vijay’ Singh, Gippy said, “Animal did good business in Punjab because people liked the film. Abhi toh bahut change ho gaya hai. Pehle kya hota tha ki logon ne Punjab suna bahut tha, dekha nahi tha. Isi liye jo Punjabi ya Sikh character banate the, woh unke khudh ke imagination se the. Hum dekhte the and we used to say ‘Yeh kaha ke Punjabi hai’, ‘Kaun hai yeh log?’ Now, there is big and good change in the industry (There has been a lot of change now. Before what happened was that many had heard of Punjab but not seen it. So their creation of those characters were based on their own imagination. We used to see that and say, ‘From where does he resemble a Punjabi?’, ‘Who are these people?’).”

What Sargun Mehta liked about Animal
Sargun Mehta said, “Sandeep Reddy Vanga was so particular about everything, that even in the last shot before Aziz kills one of Sikh cousin, he looks straight into Aziz’s eyes fearlessly and accepts his fate like a lion. He (Sandeep) didn’t do it, just because he wanted to do it. He kept the valour of Punjabis intact throughout the film, and Arjan Vailey described it very very well. So I think even Bollywood is recognising that we are known for much more than that (being funny).”

Animal revolves around a man, who returns from the US, post an assassination attempt on his emotionally distant father. In a bid to win his validation, the man goes on a rampage to take revenge on those who tried to kill his father.

The film stars Ranbir alongside Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna, Triptii Dimri, Suresh Oberoi, Shakti Kapoor, and Prem Chopra. The film released on Netflix on January 26.